Part of the telco’s Japan Welcome Series line of products, Plan Zero is initially available only in the prefectures of Hokkaido and Niigata for now. To acquire a Plan 0 SIM card, one needs to apply here. Part of application process is to answer surveys and view ads, which subsidizes the cost of the providing the free service. A code will then be sent, which must be used to pick up the SIM at the designated location.

This author tried the application process and learned that Plan 0 will be initially available to 4,000 applications of Hokkaido SIMs until March 31, 2018 and 650 applications of Niigata SIMs until supply lasts.

Japan Welcome SIM is provided as a 3-in-1 SIM card compatible with regular, micro and nano formats. Access to the DOCOMO network is provided for 15 days under various plans — Plan 0, Plan S, Plan M and Plan L. Plan 0 offers free Internet in exchange for viewing a certain number of video ads and completing a survey prior to arriving in Japan. Ad-free access at 128 Kbps is available for ¥1,080 (Plan S), or high-speed (max. 788 Mbps*1) 4G access is available with Plan M (¥1,836 for 600 MB) and Plan L (¥2,376 for 1.2 GB). Users can continue to enjoy the high-speed service by topping up their SIMs for ¥216 (100 MB), ¥756 (500 MB) or ¥1,296 (1 GB). Alternatively, the SIMs can be topped up with free high-speed data through methods such as watching video ads or completing surveys. Even after purchased high-speed data amounts have been used up, access to the network is still available at 128 Kbps for the remainder of the 15-day period.

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